Written by Carmine Gorga, The Somist Institute
President-Elect Donald Trump is attempting to bring jobs to America through tariff controls (and subsidies). While jobs must be created in the United States, disruptions are likely to occur in world trade and make net positive effects of this policy option all but uncertain. But, certainly, world trade patterns must be studied to make sure that there are no unfair trade deals in existence. If found, these deals must be repaired.
Beyond that, Concordian economics offers at least three better ways to creating jobs in the United States: jobs without accompanying disruptions.
Cost of Capital Expenditures
The first is by reducing interest rates on capital expenditure loans. If these loans are obtained directly from the Federal Reserve System, our central bank, and they are obtained at cost, this financial benefit might create such a competitive advantage for our entrepreneurs that they might be able to add new jobs or to create entirely new job opportunities in our nation.
Most certainly, the reduction in the cost of capital expenditure will make it much easier for cities and towns and state governments to afford the creation of new infrastructure jobs: bridges are more likely to be repaired; new roads, new airports, new schools will be created.
Student loans will become more affordable.
Access to National Credit
But the monetary policy advocated by Concordian economics is not supposed to be created in a vacuum. Access to national credit is made available only to individual entrepreneurs, to cooperativs, and to corporations with an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in their governance. Now, ESOPs by themselves offer a major competitive advantage: ESOPs tend to keep wages low. Employees who are owners of the corporations for which they work know that wages are payment in advance of profits. By keeping wages as low as possible, they create competitive advantages for their corporations that make the pot of profits at year-end that much sweater.
Consumer Share of Ownership
Concordian economics also recommends that access to national credit be granted only to corporations that have a Consumer Ownership Plan (CSOP) in their governance. CSOPs recognize that it is consumers who keep them alive during an entire fiscal year. Thus, these corporations grant their customers a share of the profits at year-end. Actually, this expense ought to be calculated as cost. Hence, profits will be distributed only after taking care of this obligation of the firm. Sales slips will determine how much is owed to each customer. Let us imagine a world in which Burger King, and Macy’s, and – indeed – Visa and Master Card distribute a certain percentage of their income to their customers. Is that not a completely new economic world?
The road to CSOPs is paved with a major promise. When CSOPs are displayed in full vigor, there will not be any more any need to create jobs to sustain people’s lives; jobs that too often only disrupt our ecology. The market will provide. Good capitalism will then be in full bloom.